FOSDEM: The Mozilla Foundation's partnership with Google has kept it afloat for the past few months, and is now allowing it to hire more staff

The Mozilla Foundation's deal with Google is playing a crucial role in helping the non-profit organisation challenge Microsoft with its Firefox browser.

Gervase Markham, a Mozilla staff member, said on Sunday that over the last year the Foundation has hired around 10 people, which would not have been possible without the money that Firefox makes by linking to Google.

"The Google deal has provided a significant stream of income for the Foundation," said Markham, speaking at the FOSSDEM conference in Brussels. "Without that deal the Foundation would not have been in a position to have hired some of the people that it has."

Following an agreement reached last year, Firefox includes Google as the default option for users wanting to search the Web directly, and also has its default start page hosted by Google. Markham didn't reveal full details of the Foundation's deal with Google. Read full article at ZDNet UK